[Image from Cleveland Clinic]
5. Universal hepatitis C treatment
Hepatitis C is a major public health issue in the U.S. and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified the virus as a “silent epidemic.” Infection can lead to serious, life-threatening health problems like liver failure, cirrhosis and liver cancer.
There is no vaccine for the virus and patients have been limited to medication. However, many treatments carried adverse side effects or are only effective for certain genotypes of the disease, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
A new and approved fixed-dose combination medication has been shown to improve hepatitis C treatment. The medication has been more than 90% effective for hepatitis C genotypes one through six and is an effective option for a wider scope of patients.
“Since 2014, not only have the side effects from these medications been virtually non-existent, we are also seeing success in cure rates of 98-99%, which over five years ago was completely not thought of,” Dr. Bobby Zervos, associate department chair for the center for abdominal transplantation at Cleveland Clinic Florida, said at the virtual event.
